In Karnataka , the percentage of subjects with caries experience of dmft ranges from about 53.4 per cent in 5 year children  and DMFT of about 39.1  per cent in 12 year old children. Unfortunately, the habit of routine dental visits is not common in our population. Majority of dental visits are undertaken only after the child gets pain or has extensive decay. School based dental screening programs are recommended by the WHO. A modification in the present School-based dental screening that incorporates more effective communication between the dentist and parent could potentially improve uptake of dental services. In our modified method of communication to the parent after screening, we plan to improve the involvement of parent with help of video based communication, customized health education and telephonic reminders to stimulate attendance. Hence we plan to compare the effectiveness of two alternative approaches for school-based dental screening in promoting dental attendance and reducing untreated dental caries among primary school children.

The study will be conducted among school-going children of Dharwad city who are aged between 7 and 12 years. From 10 schools selected, 100 children will dental screened to meet a quota of at-least 70 children ( total of 700 in 10 schools). stratified random selection will be done to select 140 children who will receive improvised screening protocol. All the 700 children will be visited after 3 months from the date of screening for confirming whether the child completed the dental visit and also about the dental treatments undertaken. Comparison of rate of dental attendance following improvised screening protocol with traditional school based oral screening will be done.recruitment is planned to begin from 15th of July and the follow up is expected to be completed by 15th January 2025 (subject to CTRI registration prior to 15th July 2024 )